The invention relates to television entertainment systems for providing television programming to consumer homes. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for targeting advertisements to consumer""s homes including monitoring, controlling and managing a television program delivery network from an operations center or a cable headend.
Advances in television entertainment have been primarily driven by breakthroughs in technology. In 1939, advances on Vladmir Zworykin""s picture tube provided the stimulus for NBC to begin its first regular broadcasts. In 1975, advances in satellite technology provided consumers with increased programming to homes.
Many of these technology breakthroughs have produced inconvenient systems for consumers. One example is the ubiquitous three remote control home, having a separate and unique remote control for the TV, cable box and VCR. More recently, technology has provided cable users in certain parts of the country with 100 channels of programming. This increased program capacity is beyond the ability of many consumers to use effectively. No method of managing the program choices has been provided to consumers.
Consumers are demanding that future advances in television entertainment, particularly programs and program choices, be presented to the consumer in a user friendly manner. Consumer preferences, instead of technological breakthroughs, will drive the television entertainment market for at least the next 20 years. As computer vendors have experienced a switch from marketing new technology in computer hardware to marketing better usability, interfaces and service, the television entertainment industry will also experience a switch from new technology driving the market to consumer usability driving the market.
Consumers want products incorporating new technology that are useful, and will no longer purchase new technology for the sake of novelty or status. Technological advances in sophisticated hardware are beginning to surpass the capability of the average consumer to use the new technology. Careful engineering must be done to make entertainment products incorporating new technology useful and desired by consumers.
In order for new television entertainment products to be successful, the products must satisfy consumer demands. TV consumers wish to go from limited viewing choices to a variety of choices, from no control of programming to complete control. Consumers wish to advance from cumbersome and inconvenient television to easy and convenient television and keep costs down. Consumers do not wish to pay for one hundred channels when due to lack of programming information, they seldom, if ever, watch programming on many of these channels. Viewers wish their programming to be customized and targeted to their needs and tastes.
The concepts of interactive television, high definition television and 300 channel cable systems in consumer homes will not sell if they are not packaged, delivered and presented in a useable fashion to consumers. Consumers are already being bombarded with programming options, numerous xe2x80x9cfreexe2x80x9d cable channels, subscription cable channels and pay-per-view choices. Any further increase in TV entertainment choices, without a user friendly presentation and approach, will likely bewilder viewers with a mind-numbing array of choices.
The TV industry has traditionally marketed and sold its programs to consumers in bulk, such as continuous feed broadcast and long-term subscriptions to movie channels. The TV industry is unable to sell its programming in large quantities on a unit per unit basis, such as the ordering of one program. Consumers prefer a unit sales approach because it keeps costs down and allows the consumer to be more selective in their viewing.
In today""s television world, networks manage the program lineup for individual channels. Each network analyzes ratings for television shows and determines the appropriate schedule or program lineup to gain market share and revenue from advertising. Program ratings are determined using a test group of viewers and statistical analysis methods. Since each channel is in competition with every other channel, there is no coordinated effort to organize television programming in a manner that primarily suits the viewers.
Advertising has become equally annoying, with viewers being xe2x80x9cforcedxe2x80x9d to watch television commercials for goods and services that are neither needed nor desired. As a result, consumers have become impatient and dissatisfied with today""s television delivery systems. Equally problematic, these television delivery systems do not have the capabilities or features necessary to operate in the digital environment. Consequently, advances in digital technology call for a new television program delivery system that is capable of satisfying varying consumer and viewer needs.
Advertisers want to optimize their advertising expenditures by ensuring that specific advertisements are directed to the appropriate audiences. Specifically, advertisers want specific advertisements to air during television programming that is being viewed by those individuals most likely to be influenced to buy the advertised product, or otherwise respond in a desired fashion to the advertisement.
Existing cable headends are unequipped for the transition to a digital system. These cable headends have no means for monitoring and controlling the large numbers of program signals and advertisements that will eventually be passed on to both consumers and viewers. These cable headends are unequipped to manage account and billing information for set top terminals without relying on telephone lines. In addition, these cable headends have no means for targeting advertisements to particular consumers and viewers.
The present invention is a system and a method for delivering targeted advertisements in a television network. In particular, a program controller, or central processing unit, monitors and controls television terminals in a television delivery system. The program controller is a key component of a digital television delivery system. The program controller of the present invention provides much greater capability and flexibility than existing television network controllers such as cable headend control equipment.
The program controller of a preferred embodiment performs all its network monitoring and control of television terminals at a central operations center. The operations center receives analog and digital program signals and processes the signals to produce digitally compressed program signals that are then relayed to intermediate sites such as cable headend sites or are transmitted directly to the television terminals. Each cable headend site is equipped with multiple satellite receiver dishes and a signal processor.
The primary function of the program controller is to manage the configuration of television terminals, control the broadcast of program signals to the television terminals and process signals received from the television terminals. In the preferred embodiment, the program controller monitors, among other things, automatic poll-back responses from the television terminals remotely located at each subscribers"" home. The polling and automatic report-back cycle occurs frequently enough to allow the program controller to maintain accurate account and billing information, retrieve programs watched data and monitor authorized channel access.
In the one embodiment, information sent from the program controller is stored in RAM within each subscriber""s television terminal and will be retrieved only upon polling by the program controller. Retrieval may, for example, occur on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The program controller allows the television delivery system to maintain complete information on all programs watched using a particular television terminal. The program controller may also send program data to the television terminal for temporary storage. Thus, the television terminals may store targeted advertisements that are to be played during program breaks for programs airing in the next 24 hours, or in the next week, for example.
A television terminal data gathering routine allows the program controller to schedule and perform polling of all television terminals operating in the system. The software also provides the program controller with a means of processing status reports received from television terminals in response to polling requests.
A video targeting routine makes use of a viewer""s demographic information and viewing habits to determine those advertisements that may be most effective when displayed to that particular viewer. In so doing, the routine generates packages of advertisements targeted towards each viewer, or to groups of viewers.
Finally, an additional routine correlates the programs accessed with pricing information to generate billing reports that can be sent to a given television terminal over the cable distribution network. Aside from this routine, the program controller accommodates other methods of billing and account maintenance, such as through the use of remote billing sites.
To efficiently convey targeted advertisements to a desired audience, the operations center may employ a multiple channel architecture that includes a program channel and a number of feeder channels to carry alternate programming, such as alternate targeted advertisements. The program channel carries a main program, such as a broadcast television show, and accompanying advertisements. The feeder channels are ancillary video/audio channels, which are delivered to the television terminal, and which provide primarily alternate commercial and promotional interstitial material during breaks in the main program. The concept of targeted advertising makes use of the feeder channels to allow the television terminals to remain at the program channel or to be switched to the most appropriate feeder channel at the program break, with appropriateness being based on information known about the demographics and viewing habits of users of the television terminals, for example.
Careful management of the feeder channels, including their dynamic switching, and control of the advertising airing on the feeder channels at any given time can greatly increase both the advertisers"" likelihood of reaching an interested viewer, as well as the likelihood a viewer is interested in a specific advertisement. The feeder channels are assigned a series of advertisements, and a switching plan is developed that directs individual television terminals to remain at the program channel or to switch from the program channel to a specific feeder channel upon the occurrence of the program break.
The process of managing the program and the feeder channels begins with a number of configuration and set-up steps. First, individual television terminal address information is collected at an operations center, which may be a cable headend site or other central control station. This information is required to uniquely identify each television terminal and to associate with that identifier necessary information to aid in the targeting process. The television terminal address information may be provided to the operations center upon installation or activation of the television terminal in the viewer""s home. Other information may be collected from various sources, including viewer surveys, marketing databases correlated by address or zip code+4, for example.
Next, television terminal groups are determined. This is needed if the management of information and targeting to individual television terminals is not practical initially, either due to non-availability of information to the appropriate level of detail, or technology to control and deliver messages and advertisements to an individual television terminal. For a number of target criteria, individual groups are defined. Examples of target criteria include demographic targeting (age/sex/income) and location, such as Area of Dominant Influence (ADI). Each target criteria is then segmented into appropriate groups. For example, the ADI may include Los Angles, Calif. and Washington D.C. New target criteria can be added and the groups redefined after their initial establishment.
For each target criteria, each television terminal is assigned to a group based on the information collected about the television terminal""s environment. Once the television terminals are assigned to groups, their group assignments are conveyed to the television terminal and stored therein.
The group assignment information that is stored at the television terminal is able to survive power cycling of the television terminal, and other normal service interruptions. Finally, as groups are modified or group assignments change, the television terminals are notified of the changes. Additionally, the group assignment information is periodically resent to the television terminals to ensure that newly added television terminals and those that have accidentally lost their information are up-to-date.
Since the available feeder channels may be shared across several program channels, their allocation must be managed and optimized. A break management engine determines how many feeder channels are available for each program break. Furthermore, each program break may contain one or more xe2x80x9cpodsxe2x80x9d during which a xe2x80x9ccommercial spotxe2x80x9d or targeted advertisement may be aired. At a minimum, one commercial spot will be available for each pod in a program break (i.e., the spot airing on the same channel as the program). However, the maximum number of spots available for a given program break will depend on the total number of feeder channels available and the alignment of program breaks across all program channels. For some programming, the occurrence of program breaks cannot be predicted in advance of programming airing (e.g., live sports broadcasts). However, for replayed programming, the occurrence of program breaks will be known. Furthermore, some programming may be manually edited to insert program breaks at appropriate intervals. The manual placement of program breaks during the program edit process can be used to force program breaks to line up or be staggered across program channels, permitting more predictable program break placements, as necessary.
A spot placement engine determines the optimum types of spots to be placed based on program break timing and feeder channel availability. The output of the spot placement engine includes an ad playbill that is used at the operations center to schedule the commercial spots. The spot placement engine takes into account likely viewers of a program, the desirability of available spots to those viewers, targeting criteria, and the number of feeder channels available for each program break. The spot being placed on the program channel during the program break serves as the default targeted advertisement (most appropriate to the overall audience) in case the feeder channels are not available for alternate targeted advertising. The default targeted advertisement also supports cable systems that either are not configured to provide targeted advertising, or those cable systems that are receiving other programming.
Once specific spots are selected for each program break, the television terminal groups that should remain with the program channel, and those that should tune to a particular feeder channel at each program break are determined, based on target criteria of interest. Switching of television terminals to the appropriate feeder channels may be conducted using a detailed switching plan, for example. The switching plan is distributed to control points in the system, such as cable headend sites, which are then responsible for the periodic transmission of the switching plans to television terminals. Alternately, the switching plans are distributed directly to the television terminals from the operations center.
After the television terminal receives and stores the switching plan, the television terminal will remain with the program channel or will tune to the appropriate feeder channel during the corresponding program break, if the television terminal is tuned to a program channel that carries programming that cooperates with the multiple channel architecture. The viewer may, at any time, override feeder channel switching by selecting a non-cooperating program channel.
The television terminal will store information indicating that the switch was made. The accumulated switching history information will be collected from the television terminal at a later time for review purposes. For example, upon command from the control points, the television terminal will provide the switching history data to a local (e.g., cable headend) or to a national site. The unique television terminal identification information may also be provided with the collected data. As mechanisms become available to identify specific viewers in a household, the system will allow for individual identification information to also be provided with collected data. Finally, upon collection of the television terminal switching history data, the television delivery system will allow for the return of used television terminal memory space to the television terminals.
As noted above, the program controller interacts directly with television terminals or with network controllers located at cable headends. As an intermediary between the television terminals and the operations center (or other remote site), the cable headend relies on a network controller to perform key cable system operations. In particular, the network controller accommodates regional programming needs by working with other cable headend components. The network controller also performs the system control functions for the cable system. Thus, the network controller performs many functions similar to the program controller.
The network controller is also able to respond to the immediate needs of a television terminal, or a group of television terminals. The network controller can modify a program signal received from the operations center before the program signal is transmitted to the television terminal. Therefore, the network controller enables the delivery system to adapt to the specific requirements of individual television terminals when information on these requirements cannot be provided to the operations center in advance. In other words, the network controller is able to perform xe2x80x9con the fly programmingxe2x80x9d changes. With this capability, the network controller can handle sophisticated local programming needs such as interactive television services, split screen video, and selection of different foreign languages for the same video.
The network controller makes use of a number of software routines to perform its major functions. In one routine, the network controller modifies the program control information so that changes and additions in programming and advertisements can be accommodated. Such changes and additions include television terminal access authorizations and de-authorizations, and placement of local targeted advertisements in program breaks.
In yet another alternate embodiment, all the functions of the program controller are performed locally at the cable headend sites. That is, all the functions of the program controller are carried out by the network controller installed at the cable headend.
In the above embodiments, program signals are relayed to and information is extracted from the television terminals. The television terminals may be digital set top boxes that connect between a cable television delivery system and a television. Alternately, the television terminals may be components of digital television satellite receivers. Finally, the television terminals may be incorporated into the circuitry of the television, thereby eliminating the need for a separate control device attached to the television.